In 2030, my Khadija, you will not have to conform to any man’s rule, you will not be anyone’s play-dough and you will not be moulded into figures of any man’s invention.

Come 2030, my baby girl, I hope you will be asking your mom about how she helped make this era the girl generation; a time when your children are born free.

Just because I went through female genital mutilation, it does not mean it’s your or your daughters’ destiny.

Because I was forced into a marriage against my own will at 15, it does not mean you will not be able to make your own choices.

Just because my childhood was taken from me does not mean yours will be taken.

Because I spent most of my life being told what to do, what to be and how to act, what to say and being told what it means to be a woman, does not mean you will suffer the same fate.

Because cancer took my mother away from me does not mean it will steal me away from you.

I took action in order to give you control of your own destiny, but also so your children could exercise the same right.

By 2030 women and girls will feel beautiful despite society’s shallow and insensitive standard of what beauty is.

Education will be a requirement rather than a privilege.

My son will not have to risk his life crossing seas in order to find himself a better future.

My brothers and sisters will have long understood we are one, despite where we are from. We are all foreigners in someone else’s land. Actually we are all foreigners in this world since it’s our destiny that everyone will die.

By 2030 we will have found a cure for cancer and all other illnesses that threaten our existence.

By 2030 we will not be chanting that “black lives matter” because by then we will have fully understood that all lives matter.

Come 2030 we will not displace millions of children because of our love for wars and guns. We will not use guns to kill and wipe out our own species.

My son Muhammed will not have to change his name to Michael to find a job. He will not be afraid to say that he is a Muslim in fear of being called a terrorist.

The world I imagine for my children is one where they are free, happy and able to choose, make their own decisions and not be judged by their skin or faith.

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Jaha Dukureh is the founder of Safe Hands for Girls​ which is a non-profit organization set up in 2013 working to protect girls and young women who are at risk from female genital mutilation (FGM), while supporting survivors. Jaha is the lead campaigner against female genital mutilation in the U.S. Jaha successfully lobbied President Obama and the Department of Health and Human Services, to take the essential first step of commissioning a report on the current statistics of women in the US impacted by FGM and the girls at risk of being mutilated. She is a 25 year old FGM survivor. Having experienced FGM as a child in her home country The Gambia, she has dedicated her life to ensuring that the girls of her daughter’s generation do not go through the same rite of passage. She has used a travelling roadshow and an international documentary to bring the message home that expatriates like herself are abandoning the practice. Find her on Twitter at @jahaendfgm.